


LDR: Bad Finite Query

by TIMM (bfq)



Series: The BFQ [1]
Category: Beyond the Aquila Rift - Alastair Reynolds (Short Story), LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-16 10:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21269624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bfq/pseuds/TIMM
Summary: Someone new becomes a statistic of a routing error, and this time, he's a gamer.





	LDR: Bad Finite Query

_a bad finite query loth_  
\--

"You're not Kor."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sorry, gal, you're like Kor in a lot of ways, but you're not Kor. You're trying too hard. Let me guess, something went horribly, drastically wrong, the slip-space tunnel ironically slipped somewhere, and we ended up somewhere at the edge of nowhere with no way back. Is that about right?"

"How did you--?"

"Simulation, yeah?" I stepped up to the window and rapped my knuckles on the surface. "It's a stunning view. Beautiful. But they reject it, don't they?"

"Who?"

"The others, ones who came before. I'm not the first."

"What makes you think that?"

"You started with the simulation. You didn't crack me open first and wait until I'd started to scream before trying to push something familiar that you stole out of my dreams. How many did you lose?"

"Too many."

"There, you see? That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

"Hard?"

"You just confirmed it. Simulation, check. You have a lot to learn about humans, dearie. We're more wily than you think. Now, enough with the games. Tell me how many reject it, reject the simulation?"

"All of them."

"Let me guess, you feed them a sim of what the world really looks like, but because it's a sim, you can cut them off and put them back under when they crack. How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long does it take for them to crack, seeing the world as it really is?"

"The sane ones go in under a minute. The insane ones..." She shuddered. "I don't..."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "How many do you have, right now?"

"One hundred and nineteen."

"And they're all, what? Circling through slightly deviating loops until you find the right way to tell them what's really happened?"

She nodded.

"Alright, let's get me in something more comfortable, sit down with a nice cup of tea, and I'll help you get this all sorted out."

"Don't you want to know what's out there?"

"Fuck no. My nightmares are going to be bad enough as it is, trying to help you save one hundred and eighteen damned souls, I don't need any more fuel for that fire."

"One hundred and nineteen."

"I don't need to save me, dearie. Once I've got that tea and show you how you should be running this shtick, I'll have everything I need."


End file.
